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“Okay, jeez.” Asher threw up his hands before shoving them into his pockets and paced around the jar.
At this point I wasn’t even sure if I was helping him escape because it was the right thing to do or I wanted my grandmother to have some kind of repercussion for all her hatred of me. There was no reason it couldn’t be both.
I finished the potion and grabbed a pippette, sucking a little of the potion into it. I put the jar on its side so that Asher could climb out and squeezed a droplet of the potion into his open mouth.
Asher coughed and spluttered as the droplet doused his face but a second later, he rocketed into his normal size, knocking the jar with his foot. It skittered across the floor and smashed against the leg of a shelf.
“Gods!” He windmilled his arms as he threatened to topple over backwards, his shirt ripped in several places as some particularly tight seams had failed to adjust in time.
I grabbed his arm and yanked him upright.
“Wooo, thanks.” Asher ran a hand through his hair, smoothing the stuck up bits.
I eyed him in full size for the first time. He was even better looking than his picture; he had an oval shaped face, a cute little nose, and big blue eyes that looked fully capable of wooing anyone all by themselves. Shame he was such a jerk.
“Listen.” Asher noticed the tear on his shirt and cringed, but he quickly ignored it and turned to me poised in a crouch. “I’m an asshole, I know, but I don’t think I can just leave you here.”
“What do you mean?” This was the place I had grown up in. I hadn’t known any other place.
Hecate trotted up to us, her ears pricked.
“You’re as trapped here as I am,” Asher said. “That’s obvious to anyone. If you come with me, you could finally be free. Not to mention, you might actually get that power you’re so desperate for if you get away from here.”
Hecate pressed a paw to the back of my hand. Go with him. You don’t understand how much better your life will be.
It was impossible. I could never leave this place...could I? After everything my grandmother had said...if I left, wouldn’t I end up in poverty and left to die alone?
“I’m not cut out for a life out there,” I muttered. “I’m not strong enough.” Or anything enough.
“That’s not true.” Asher rolled onto his knees to edge a little closer. “I don’t know what they’ve told you, but you’re a strong person. You rescued Hecate and me didn’t you?”
Well...that was true.
“And you did it off your own back, without anyone telling you to do it. That tells me that you’re not just a strong person, you’re a good person,” Asher said.
A tear slipped down my cheek. Why was he saying that? He could leave any time he wanted. Why was he sticking around to make this point?
“I have nowhere to go,” I said.
“You’re not the first person I’ve ever met who’s had nowhere to go,” he said. “There’s lots of us, actually. We all support each other.”
I sniffed and scratched my nose. “You mean I could stay somewhere? With you?”
“For as long as you wanted.”
I stared into the bubbling potion. My life had only ever ventured in one direction - down an inevitable, familiar corridor, alone and powerless. How had I ended up at this crossroads with a choice? And now that I was standing there, which path did I choose?
The door to the potion store flew open, and a tightness enveloped my throat. Asher and I were lifted into the air, clawing at our necks as telekinetic power squeezed the air out of us.
My eyes bulged at the sight of not just my grandmother, aunt, and uncle, but my entire family gathered in the potions room, all with looks of pure venom.
Chapter Seven
Under the force of my grandmother’s telekinetic power, Asher and I were dragged out of the secret room into the potion’s room. We were slammed against the wall, our limbs pinned to it, and the pressure finally released around my throat.
I drew in a rasping breath, and Asher coughed repeatedly at my side. Hecate dashed after us, but my uncle picked her up by the scruff, and she dangled in the air, hissing.
“It’s worse than you thought, Mother.” My aunt Georgina had her hands on her hips as she looked between me and Asher. “She isn’t just rebelling; she’s sabotaging your work.”
